I started March strong with one of my favourite reads so far this year, that book sent my into a slump that necessitated me rereading a bunch of Kristen Ashley. This is what happens to me when I read books that are outstanding. I feel like nothing will top it so what’s the point?

I know it’s not logical but I can’t fix it!

So March…

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow – 5⭐

This is the book that did me in, I want to do a proper review but reviewing books that blow you away is so hard, I have like 60 highlights to go through before I get to the review though but I will absolutely be reviewing.

A wonderful book, beautifully written and will stay with me for a good long while. It’s books like this that give me that magical feeling of ‘I BLOODY LOVE BOOKS’ while reading.

A few epic quotes until I review:

“A wise woman keeps her burning on the inside.”

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

“Witching and women’s rights. Suffrage and spells. They’re both . . .” She gestures in midair again. “They’re both a kind of power, aren’t they? The kind we aren’t allowed to have.”

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

“What if they didn’t start as witch-burnings? What if they were book-burnings, in the beginning?”

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

This one caused me to put the book down for a few minutes in order to digest, ya know, with the way people have gone back to burning books and all that!

“If you want to blame someone for a fire, look for the men holding matches.”

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

“Avalon wasn’t the first library. Alexandria, Antioch, Avicenna . . . They keep burning us. We keep rising again.”

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

“This fight.” Jennie rubs the broken bridge of her nose. “To just—live, to be—is one that I was signed up for before I was even born. I don’t get to walk away.”

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

This quote made me proper cry!

I could share so many more quotes from this, it’s just a really good book and it made me angry and hopeful! It’s absolutely in the top 10 of 2024.

Motorcycle Man (Dream Man #4) – 5⭐ , Own the Wind (Chaos #1) 5⭐ Fire Inside (Chaos #2) – 5⭐,Ride Steady (Chaos #3) 5⭐, Walk Through Fire (Chaos #4) 5⭐, Wild Like the Wind (Chaos #5) 4⭐ & Wild Fire (Chaos #6.5) 4⭐, Wild Wind (Chaos #6.6) 4⭐by Kristen Ashley

I reread all these in a totally different order and it really worked well. So I read the OG Chaos boys first:

• Tack and Tyra – Motorcycle Man (Dream Man #4 but really Chaos #1)
• Hop and Lanie – Fire Inside (Chaos #2)
• High and Millie – Walk Through Fire (Chaos #4)
• Hound and Keely – Wild Like the Wind (Chaos #5)

And then on to the younger generation:

• Shy and Tabby – Own the Wind (Chaos #1)
• Joker and Carissa – Ride Steady (Chaos #3)
• Dutch and Georgie – Wild Fire (Chaos #6.5)
• Jag and Archie – Wild Wind (Chaos #6.6)

There are two couples missing from the younger generation reread, one of those books should have been an automatic reread and I actually do like Rush and Rebel but the rest of Free (Chaos #6) is a hot mess and I refuse to reread it again as it was tainting the rest of the books for me. Rosalie and Snapper in Rough Ride (Chaos #4.5) didn’t really do it for me when I first read them, the any biker would do thing didn’t sit well with me but that might be me being too harsh, maybe I’ll give it ago again someday. Despite the series ending so lamely, I do enjoy the Chaos Motorcycle Club and I’m sure to be back with them again in the near future.

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron – 4⭐

“I don’t want to be saved by some knight in shining armour. I’d like to be the one in the armour, and I’d like to be the one doing the saving.”

First thing first, I have always been a sucker for a Cinderella retelling and this was a great (and maddening) retelling.

This is very fast paced and has lots going on, I found Sophia frustrating at times because it felt like she was putting people in danger by being so outspoken about how unfair everything was and then I caught myself, shouted ‘FU*K THE PATRIARCHY’ and willed her on!

I didn’t love the love triangle feel to this though, that’s because I really REALLY dislike love triangles. I mean it wasn’t an out and out love triangle but I could have done without any of the Erin drama to be honest, I know it moved the story on in a certain way, showed us very clearly that Sophia’s parents and people close to her knew she was queer and were accepting of that even though the laws of the land wouldn’t permit her to live openly with a woman, Erin also served as a way of showing how truly supportive Constance is in comparison. I get all that, but I didn’t like Erin and I didn’t like her specter lingering between Sophia and Constance. There was real chemistry between Constance and Sophia, and Erin kind of took away from that.

All in all this was a solid read, YA isn’t something I go for much nowadays but when I do pick one up it’s something like this I want. Very much ‘the princess saves herself’ and ‘FU*K THE PATRIARCHY’.

“Do not be silent. Raise your voice. Be a light in the dark.”

Sanctuary with Kings (Tempting Monsters #3) by Kathryn Moon – 4.5⭐

A great ending to this trilogy, I really enjoyed the Tempting Monsters universe and hope we get more stories from it. I didn’t love The Company of Fiends as much as A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor so I was a little hesitant to start this but I think it ended up being my favourite of the three main books. Evanthia and her monsters were wonderful and even though there was some frustration with a certain minotaur all the other monsters were somewhat decent communicators and good at giving Evanthia time to heal. I mean in the grand scheme of things she probably needed a lot more time and a therapist but fantasy and all that.

Stone Heart (Dark Olympus) #0.5 by Katee Robert – 4⭐

I liked this, it was very short though. I really liked Medusa and Calypso and would have enjoyed more of their ‘story’ be that more plot or more sexy time. I wanted both! I would have also liked more of their life in the lower city but I did like the little glimpse we got of it pre Neon Gods.

I liked the Charon we see in this novella as well and it’s reminded me that I have Midnight Ruin waiting for me.

Midnight Ruin (Dark Olympus #6) by Katee Robert – 4⭐

I was wondering how she was going to redeem Orpheus and I will not lie, I was skeptical, especially given that I was really invested in the chemistry between Charon and Eurydice and I wasn’t feeling a third. Well…

I was wrong…

Orpheus just slid right in there and he redeemed himself by taking full responsibility for being an asshole, have to love characters who can admit they were wrong and then work to make amends, Orpheus took cleaning things VERY seriously! 🥵

I will admit that I am a teeny, tiny bit over the Minos/Big Bad storyline. BIG SPOILER —-> although I did squee when the Big Bad was revealed to be Circe and that she was the former Zeus’ second wife who apparently ‘drowned’ on their honeymoon!! I mean I’m intrigued by the reveal but I also feel like I need this story arc to be resolved asap. I hope we at least get to see the end of Minos in the next book and given that it’s Ariadne’s book I’m hopeful. I just feel like he should have been dead about two books ago!

Dark Restraint up next and that teaser chapter has me READY!

Hoarded by the Dragon (Monstrous Matches #4) by Lillian Lark – 4⭐

I dunno, I really enjoy this series, Lillian Lark does an amazing job at smut with lots of plot and feelings. It’s a gift!

Pregnancy trope is not a big favourite of mine but I was 100% on board with this one and I thought that Katarina needing to be close to Kalos for his ‘fire’ was very clever and utterly delicious.

Kalos had a lot of healing to do and it was painful at times but it made the payoff that much better I think. Katarina was very emotionally mature which I like in my heroines.

I recommend the bonus epilogue via Lillian Lark’s newsletter, it features more pregnancy trope and I was delighted to see it which is very unusual for me!

The Maiden Bride by Rexanne Becnel – 3⭐

I’m not sure…

I mean I loved parts and hated others. At the end of the day Axton is kind of the bad guy, then again the whole de Valcourt family is trash so do we really care that he comes in as the conqueror and takes everything? But the ‘taking’ of Linnea kind of gave me the ick even though he was not a complete pig about it.

I often find medieval romance to be just a bit too much. I mean the MMC’s are often marauders so they typically won’t have a warm and fussy side, and call me a romantic but I kind of like my romance a bit less rapey. This one was for sure one of the better ones I’ve read and Axton knows how to please his woman and once said woman understands what’s happening she really gets into it but it very much felt like he would be taking what was his even if she wasn’t into it. I guess one could say regency is the same, not like any of these women had any rights, but it’s rare I feel with regency like I do about medieval . That’s to say ICKY and really very bummed out!

St. Jude is prayed to 36 times. It felt like more. It really started to bother me.

All of Linnea’s family deserved to die, including her twin, they were the worst!

The King (I want to say Edward I) was a monster. This is not shocking to me, they all are, but he was also a child and I wanted someone to smack him upside the head. A. Little. Shit. Nothing like the entitlement of the monarchy! Billionaires are coming close I suppose.

It wrapped up a bit abruptly after it dragged in places but I actually thought it wrapped up cleverly.

The Bone Shard Daughter (The Drowning Empire #1) by Andrea Stewart – 5⭐

I read this in 2021 and I loved it, both book 2 and 3 are now released and I’d really like to finish up a few series and trilogies I’ve got waiting this year so a reread of this in preparation for those. This is still wonderful, not a huge amount you can say without spoilers but it’s got fantastic and comprehensive world building (without massive info dumps), multiple POV’s, a cute animal sidekick and characters that are hard not to get totally invested in.